Malloy awards $9 million in grants for land conservation (document)

HARTFORD -- More than $9 million in grants will be awarded to 35 communities in purchasing land to be preserved as open space, announced Gov. Dannel P. Malloy in a statement Friday.

The Open Space and Watershed Land Acquisition grants will support the purchase of 2,732 acres of land across Connecticut using state bonds and funding from the 2005 Community Investment Act.

Connecticut has 496,182 acres designated as state or local open space lands with a goal of protecting 673,210 acres of land by 2023, according to the statement.

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"Land conservation is an important investment in our future, and moves us closer to meeting our goal of protecting 21 percent of Connecticut's land as open space in the next ten years," stated Malloy. "These preservation projects are key to maintaining our high quality of life and making Connecticut a great place to live, work, and raise a family."